Monday, March 27, 2006

Lets Talk About Assimilation

It used to be then when you emigrated to America, you brought your culture with you and you assimilated with the rest of the populace. We are, and have always been, the melting pot.

But lately is seems that people want to crash our borders illegally and then demand that we accomodate their culture rather than assimilating to ours. I think its wonderful that people have affection and pride for the culture of their ancestors country of origin. One side of my family came from England in the 1840's and the other side came from Norway in the late 1800's. To this day there is a huge population of Norwegian and German descendants living in the Dakotas. My grandmother was born here but she had a tinge of the Norwegian accent.

When they arrived here they didnt hang Norways' flag off their front porch. They learned English as quickly as possible. They were proud of their heritage and extremely proud of their new country. The ballots at election polls werent printed in Norwegian or German.

I lived in California for 8 yrs: Long Beach, Santa Ana, and San Diego. Here's a description of Santa Ana from when I lived there in 1998:97% Latino. I dont have a problem with that.70-80% of them here illegally. I have a problem with that.Hard working? I'm sure they are but they are here illegally. I dont care if they are seeking a better life. Get in line like the rest of the world. A bank robber is seeking a better life too.

Here's how well they have assimilated:1. They dont speak English. People who have been here for 30-40 yrs and dont speak English.2. They dont intend to ever speak English. They dont have to. Their newspapers, their radio stations, and their teachers all use Spanish. Their ballots are in Spanish. The ATM's are in Spanish. When you call Citibank you hear "Para Espanol, limpia quatro" (i think thats what they are saying). We accomodate them, we enable them.3. Mexican flags in Santa Ana flying from businesses outnumber American flags 20-1. You would swear you were in Mexico except that you cant smell any raw sewage.4. Montgomery Wards on Bristol St: All of the in-store sales announcements are in Spanish. No English. The signs in the store are all in Spanish. The Help Wanted sign says "Must speak Spanish".

You think I am kidding? Take a drive down Bristol Street in Santa Ana and check it out.OF COURSE, I will get the idiots who comment that I hate people of color. Thats the easiest recourse for people who cant debate in a reasonable way.

According the the Justice Dept: 17% of the inmates in the U.S. Federal Prison System are illegals. 50% of Californias prisons are filled with illegal aliens from Mexico who had previous criminal records before they even got here. Lots of new gangs in the last decade: Latin Kings, 18th Street, Brown Side Locos, La Gran Familia, La Raza, Los Zetas, Malditos 13, Mara Salvatrucha, Nortenos, Pachucos 21...all the result of rampant illegal immigration.

10% of the entire population of Mexico has illegally emigrated to the U.S. since 1980.

Our emergency rooms are overrun (ER cant turn away anybody regardless of legal status or ability to pay). Our schools systems are exploding at the seams. How much do you think this costs?

And we should turn a blind eye while 500,000 more people stream across our border each year?

The point I am trying to make is that the U.S. welcomes skilled immigrants who wish to be a part of America, those who wish to be Americans. We arent in any way an anti-immigrant nation. Everybody wants to live in America and who can blame them? We have a strong economy, low unemployment, and a wonderful President.

But, the law abiding people who wait in line and do things legally are getting bitch-slapped while the linecutters get to push the big red Easy button and skate by.

The LEGAL immigrants want to be part of America. The ILLEGAL aliens want to be a part of the economy, they are after a buck, a better standard of living, and who can blame them?

But, they could really give a shit about being Americans. And if you dare to point that out, you are nothing but a xenophobic racist.

4 Comments:

Oh yes, lets talk of assimilation. Why is it that conservatives tend to think melting pot means add heat and remove cultural identity? Do none of you cook for yourselves? A stew doesnt work like that, you put in a carrot and its still a carrot, even if its less crisp and tastes a bit like beef, onion and celery. Coming here doesnt mean losing who you were to become someone new. It means oportunity to acheive what you could not anywhere else.

I do think there should be a greater effort for those who do not speak it, to learn english. I also think we should enforce learning multiple languages in our schools. The world is much more accessable to nearly everyone these days. We cant have a bunch of uneducated children as our legacy for the future, they will need those languages, sooner rather than later, besides, those who learn more than 1 language do better in life, all around.

The fact is, when our grandparents came here, this was a country overrun by bigots and rednecks, now that weve managed to beat them down to 35% or so, things are getting a little more liberal and less isolationist. None of our ancestors got a free ride, they learned it fast becuase it was the only way to get along, now we have vast communities of Chinese, loatian, Japanese, Mexican Chilean, Honduran, to mix with the Sicilians and Germans and Irish... There is built in support for those of almost any language becuase of our melting pot. The world changes, we dont have to like it, we just have to live with it.

Thankfully, being American doesnt mean assimilating into the Borg collective.

oh and to this:

everybody wants to live in America and who can blame them? We have a strong economy, low unemployment, and a wonderful President.

HAHAHAHAHA. Delusion is awesome isnt it? where do you get those drugs and are they cheap?

Agreed... The issue here isn't immigration or retaining cultural identities. The issue here is legality - the difference between legal and illegal immigrants.

There is no excuse for coming here illegaly. If it is true that "they will do the jobs that Americans don't want", then economics will dictate we allow them in.

Illegal immigration hurts foreigners who are trying to get into this country but cannot because they do not share a physical border. Generally, these people are more educated and are less prone to become part of the penal system (ie. Eastern Europeans, Asians, etc.)

The logistics of deporting 12 million people make me think that it will never happen. We must 1) Deny social programs except for emergency care, and 2) Punish businesses that knowingly hire illegals... If they can't work and don't receive gov. handouts, illegals will quickly leave...